Unwanted Heroes
by Darag Storm
Summary: Bullet OC , Rachel OC , and Butch OC are probably the most unlikely people to save North America; However when a world needs saving there's a world to save, even when they don't really fancy it.
1. Unwanted Heroes Chapter 1 Bullet

**Bullet**

John awoke with nostril's full of smoke, leaping from the flea ridden stack of cardboard he grabbed the baseball bat he kept in the dilapidated wardrobe. As he bent down a flurry of bullets penetrated the wall and tore his room apart, two scraped across his arch back sending a hot pain shooting down his spine.

The door was reduced to splinters as a Raider kicked it open, his inquiring stare was met quickly by John's baseball bat, as it arced through the room the Raider thought briefly about the life of crime he'd led, the families he'd destroyed, the lives he'd ruined and the communities he'd burned. All of this flashed quickly before him as his life was removed from him with each vengeful strike.

The 19 year old had spent a lot of his time working the brahmin that provided for his family and the others that lived in the small community, as such his impressive height was matched by a more than capable build. He opened his parents room and shot the stolen .32 pistol at the Raider, 4 rounds missed the psychopath completely before the final penetrated his lung. The attacker collapsed, his heavy breathing forcing blood into his lungs and slowly drowning him. Taking the rounds from the fallen hunting rifle he reloaded the pistol and looked to help his parents, there was no saving them. He heard a scream from across the hall. "ANNIE!" he was barely aware that he'd said it but he heard his voice ring out over the gunfire and crackle of burning wood. He threw himself through the door across from him, incapacitating another Raider in the process. Jumping to his feet he snapped the leg of another before firing his last 6 rounds into the last of his would be executors. He looked into the open footlocker serving as his two month old sisters cot.

Her laughter as she looked up at him brought the rest of the spectrum back into the world. He picked her up and began going through the packs of the Raiders, he found a few caps, a shot of jet and a few bottles of water and an assault rifle under the door. Leaving the jet he rounded up a few more provisions and left. He knew of a citadel directly west, northwest of the city. He would have to take a slight detour north to avoid any super mutants but figured he could make the trip in a couple of hours.

By sunset he was knocking on the door of The Brotherhood Sanctuary. He pleaded his case to a comms device against the wall. "Sir you gotta believe me, my name's John Knox. Raiders just attacked my house and killed my parents!"

"I'm sorry, sir. We need positive identification, you could be a raider, a mercenary, hell you might from Enclave sent to sabotage us. How can we take the risk" through his comms panel he heard the sound of a baby crying "what was that?"

"Look man, I've had a hard day and I'm all out of supplies, all I'm asking is that you feed us, and take care of my sister, she's two months old and hasn't eaten all day. You can hold a gun to my head from the second I enter I don't care just keep an eye on my sister man, she's all I got left"

John heard some muffled talking from beyond the gate then the screeching of the gate sliding open. Before he could utter so much as a thank-you a strike team of 20 men brushed passed him and secured the area. A final pair walked towards him, guns raised, both over his heart. He raised his free hand "I got nothing, search me" they motioned him inside. The team came back in, scopes locked on the gates as they closed.

One of the pair removed his helmet "I'm Porter, you spoke to me on the comm, look we got some supper left, and a spare set of quarters, we can keep an eye on you for the night, and you can speak to Lyons in the morning, is that okay?" He saw the kids face light up "How far have you come?"

"A good 15 miles, you mentioned some supper. I could only get some food for Annie, I haven't eaten all day"

John awoke at 7am the next morning to the sound of his sister crying. He bolted straight up and reached across for his bat in the wardrobe. He nearly fell through a hole in the wall leading to a two story drop – enough to hurt and not enough to kill. He was caught by Porter who helped him up. "Sorry, I thought it was the Raiders again" John murmured, almost to himself. He picked up the baby Annie and held her to him, jumping her until her tears turned to laughter. The Acolyte dragged him back to reality.

"Lyons is free to see you, He's upstairs I'll take you to him" he went to leave and looked back at the kid "You can bring your sister, he's an understanding guy, he just wants to help"

2 miles and 15 years later he woke up, one hand still gripping his Chinese Assault Rifle, his left held the bullet on the chain around his neck. His bulk more impressive than in his glory days, a decade and a half in the wasteland had left him with over 4000 days of experience, strength and scars. He struck a match on a nearby rock and, resting his rifle on his shoulder, lit a cigar. "Today's gonna be a good day" he took another deep draw, blowing out a smoke ring "See boy, no wind, good day" there was a muffled voice from the region of his knees "Oh I'm sorry, are you hungry?" There was another murmur. A bound Raider with tape over his mouth struggled to get free "You know it was scum like you who killed my father? Raped my mother?" He pressed the barrel of his gun against the man's crotch and applied just enough pressure to get his attention "It was fuckers like you who made me leave my home. And even in this shitheap, we were happy. The last fucking happy family on this god for-fucking-saken earth and arseholes like you, who love to fuck shit up, fucked it over. Well now you're fucked..." the burst passed through his captives crotch, intestines, stomach and a final bullet passed through his skull as the gun moved with the kick-back. "You don't mess with Bullets"

It was less than an hour before he was at the gates of the citadel again "What up Porter it's me, it's Bullet"

"One minute man I'll get Annie"

"Dude just let me-" the line went dead "-in" he sighed to himself, after a couple of minutes the comm came back to life "Hey sis, why don't you open this door and get your big brother a beer?"

"No way, you owe me big. I make you that locket so you can have a picture of me like you want, so I'm with you everywhere, and what do you bring me? Last time I got a teddy bear, I'm not 6 anymore 'big brother" He felt the sarcasm through 200m of electrics

"Come on, it's been 6 weeks of course it's good. Open the door and you'll see" The door opened and his sister came running up to him. She was only 5'7 against his 6'5 and she jumped in his arms and gave him a hug "See, here you go" he pulled a teddy out of his pack.

"See, I told you it'd be rubbish, you're a crap brother" She poked her tongue at him in fun.

"Okay, okay I'm kidding. You wanted to learn to shoot so you could come roaming with me next year right?" She nodded enthusiastically "Well I found you a shooter, and Porter's gonna teach ya when he gets time off hey?" She gave him another hug "Easy, easy, I need a beer and one of Mac's fry-ups before anything else" Her face screwed up into a pout "Then _I'll _teach you the basics myself alright. In 6 months when you turn 16 you can come chill with me alright? I'll show you the vaults and everything"

She took the 10mm pistol and began aiming at things and making shooting noises. Bullet smiled to himself as Porters hand came to rest on his shoulder "You know she's like a daughter to me John"

"Yeah I know, and no-one calls me John"

"Just take care of her Bullet, she's all both of us have"

"You've got 'er for 6 more months. You know me Grant, this fry-up, a couple cold ones and another night on a bed and I'm back out of here, you know how Lyons feels, he thinks I'm nothing better than a Raider." His old friend nodded "She's safe as long as I draw breath I promise you that."


	2. Unwanted Heroes Chapter 2 Rachel

**Rachel**

She'd been there for days, maybe weeks. She'd finally saved enough to get shot of Moriaty and was headed back to Rivet City. A messenger had come by with word of her family, her father was ill and wanted to see her again. She knew of the dangers but wanted to be there as soon as possible to see her family again. And here she was, not even close to Rivet City, not even in DC. She was in the Citadel, what was left. She'd taken a bit of a detour so that she could stop by The Brotherhood, maybe go with a patrol through the city if there was one on that way. But she'd showed up and there was no-one here. She'd been going through looking for provisions and the walls had collapsed around her. She'd been lucky to be in the kitchen at the time, and a nearby terminal had allowed her to hack into what cameras were still intact. From what she could tell there weren't anything left of what had attacked, but there was nothing of anything left.

Until today. Today when she looked up at the monitor there was a man so big at first she thought it was a Super Mutant. But he was shouting, he wasn't far away, she could here him "HELP! HELP! I'M IN HERE!" she saw him stop and start digging furiously. It took him almost half an hour to shift what she guessed to be a ton of hardcore and rubble, as he got closer she could make out the words.

"ANNIE! ARE YOU OK?! TALK TO ME ANNIE!" When a face appeared and through the final slab away she was as scared as when she thought it was a Super Mutant. The Titan of a man was dripping with sweat, dirty as hell, and his muscles were bulging with the task they'd just achieved. He looked at her and his face changed from relief to anger "Who're you?" it wasn't loud, but the raw emotion in his voice tore into her soul, leaving her powerless. "Where's Annie, where's my sister?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know, I came here for help and it was like this" She struggled to get the words out as he advanced on her "Please it collapsed around me, don't hurt me" She pushed herself further back into the corner, shrinking to the ground "Please don't hurt me sir, I just want to get to my family"

Bullet stopped in his tracks, the words registered somewhere behind the red, the red that he so often saw. His face became a welcoming beacon above his huge frame, his huge arms opened like the gates of a fortress, the gravel in his voice ceasing to be threatening and instead becoming reassuring. Rachel stood gently and walked towards him, still slightly wary but willing to accept any help. "What's your name sweetheart?" his gruff tones seemed to sooth her as she let his arms carry her out into the sunlight.

"I'm Rachel" she stammered "Are you going to hurt me?"

"No Rachel it's okay, I know what it's like to need you family. I can help you find yours if you do me a favour, Is there anyone else alive here?" she shook her head "Did you see anyone else when you came? Any bodies, anything?"

"No, sorry" She shook her head again "I've been watching the cameras and there was no-one here until you showed up..." She explained to him how she'd learnt to hack Moriaty's computer and how she'd got into the CCTV system.

"Do the cameras record?" It was a while later and Rachel had calmed down, she was sitting across from Bullet on the wreckage of one of the greatest beacons of hope, and eating pork and beans out of a tin.

"Probably, if you can find the security center or what ever they're probably on tape. Even if they're on disk I can probably load them up, why what do you want"

"My sister was here, the Brotherhood were taking care of her. I show up, no bodies, no fires, no survivors. You know what that tells me?" she shook her head "That tells me Slavers, or Raiders, or both to take out the brotherhood. Whoever came here wasn't after gear though. They wanted people. Which means if I can tell who was here, I can go get my sister. Cause they'll have her too"

"But what about my family, you said you'd help me!" there was desperation in her voice

"Where are they?" she told him "Wait, Rachel Aymer? You're dad's got the weapon shop right?" She nodded, a smile broadened on her face "I got this for ya, I was supposed to be headed for Megaton after this, they said you were there." It was a holotape. She rushed back into the kitchen and played it. Bullet came in a bit later, the tape was just finishing

"My dad died, that's why I was heading home, to see him. I would've made it back too, if I wasn't stuck in here" she sobbed before composing herself. She started grabbing her equipment and loading up "He was making a full recovery, some guy came with a load of radaway and sold it to my mom, his radiation poisoning was getting better. Then a Mirelurk got in from the lower decks, busted through the old doors I guess. Anyway were always had a cabin lower down but, I guess mom was watching his store, and it got him. It took out the whole damn floor before they could kill it" She turned and started shouting "I'M GONNA KILL EVERY ONE OF THOSE FUCKERS IF IT'LL SAVE JUST ONE MORE LIFE!" she fell to the floor and burst into tears. Bullet helped her up.

"Hey there doll-face, don't look so sad, I dunno if I've seen anyone so glum as you" She looked up at him "Believe me I know how you feel. I just come back here to get my baby sister and I find out she's gone, she was gonna come away with me and we were gonna be happy" He held her chin "Now I find out I might have to go kill some more Raiders, that it's not enough for them to kill my parents they gotta sell my sister like she's cattle" He looked into her eyes "I'll help you go back and see your mama, I'll even help you kill every swamp loving, shit eating, crap wearing mother fuckers if you want. But I'm gonna need you to help me find out who took my sister first. And I'd be much obliged if you come along and give me a hand. Especially if you know how to use those guns you got with ya"


	3. Unwanted Heroes Chapter 3 Butch

**Butch**

Bullet had recognised one of the Raiders straight away. He was some punk kid, never bothered with his name, all he knew was that he'd put enough bullet's after that boys back that he should've been long dead "That one there, I know him... But this isn't right, can't you got further back?"

"Sorry the footage is damaged... I got another camera though, check this..."

She pressed a few more buttons and another image came up, it was the front camera, above the gate. "Huh, they knew it was me straight off, they still made me wait 10 minutes to open those damn gates." There were a load of Raiders running in, about 50 all told "That's a lot of raiders, what the hell's happening here." The camera shook and then cut out. "Wait roll it back," It replayed with the Raiders running through the gates again "Freeze it" the camera had just started shaking and was currently aiming slightly left to it's normal angle. This normally would have made a worse view, showing only the eastern wall and less wasteland... but this time, the wall was half collapsed. Instead of a wall, blocking the view was 8 feet of yellowing muscle and sinew, only a centimetre or so on the camera, but enough. Bullet put his finger over it on the screen "That's a Behemoth." She saw her look of confusion "You get 4 basic types of Super Mutants. You got your grunts, not too bad, only just been made, dead thick, basically sledgehammer on legs with an anger problem. Then you get your brutes. Still not the brightest bunch, can probably work out the ins and outs of a gun. That is bullets go in one bit and out the other. Next you get you masters, starting to get a bit clever. Any decent size group of super mutants will have a master in there somewhere. They get bigger as they get older too see, so a brute would be a lil bit smaller than me, a master, you're looking at about 7 feet." he stopped again "Now understand this isn't like a hierarchy as such. It's basically as they get older they get bigger and smarter. Humans put the classifications on them. And only a couple of people have seen anything bigger'n a master. But they do get bigger, if they live long enough. They call em Behemoths, cause that's what they are. Anything up to 20 or 30 feet tall and built as well. It answers some questions, but starts a whole lot more" Now the last time I saw a Super Mutant with anything to do with humans it was Fawkes, we go way back, and he's alright. More man than mutant. But I've never seen any others. This is something funny. Mutants and Raiders working together? With a Behemoth no less?"

Rachel looked up at him, he was still transfixed on the screen "Couldn't it be a captive?"

"Nah they're too big, I mean, find a chains that can hold that? It'd be easier to just kill it and buy 500 slaves in stead. What you gotta understand is that a Behemoth is as strong as it is big. Think of it as a basic natural force on legs. Even a sapling can uproot a highway." He stopped and thought "Have you got any more cameras?"

"Sorry Bullet, only those two"

"Load the first one, which button's pause?" She showed him "Right press play" He watched it, pausing every now and again, eventually he was happy "We're headed to Megaton" He pointed to the nearest Raider on screen, there was a marking on his jacket "Get that picture onto a holotape, we're going to see an old friend see if we can't work out where we're headed"

"Who in Megaton's gonna know all that?"

"Moriaty"

"You're fucking kidding me"

It took a couple of days but before long the pair were making their way through the thrown together caravan park that was Megaton, and waltzing through the front door of Moriaty's Saloon. "AAAAGGGHHH!!!" Rachel screamed which caused Bullet to look inside away from his conversation with Jericho. "How are you babe?" Bullet followed her inside.

Rachel had run in and was hugging the man behind the bar "Alright Gob" He looked up at Bullet "How do you know Rachel?" Gob passed him a beer "Cheers"

The Ghouls voice came out like a nicotine addict on a cheese grater "She used to work here" He caught Bullet's glance "Not with Nova, behind the bar with me. Any friend of Rachel's a friend of mine. Anything you need smooth-skin"

"Information, where's your dick of a boss Moriaty? I need to get some info on some Raiders"

"We don't need Moriaty!" Rachel stuck out a hip, rested her hand on it, and help up the holotape with the other "Where do you think I learnt to hack computers? I know all of Moriaty's codes"

"That's great doll just work it out" he pushed Nova away, vaguely aware she'd been bugging him since he walked in "I told you Nova, I wouldn't get back with you if you offered me every STI left on this barren rock" She stuck him the finger and walked round the corner to find another prospective customer. No sooner had he watched her ass go up the stairs than Rachel's voice called through.

"We're going to some canyon"

"What canyon?" he drained his bottle, and threw a handful of caps on the desk "another please pal"

"What the fuck? You even talk to this wrinkled up sack of shit? Call him your pal? Man I didn't know anybody was that low." He had barely finished a sentence when two pistols, an assault rifle and a combat shotgun were placed under his neck. These belonged, respectfully to Rachel, Bullet, and the shotgun was his own. Bullet had grabbed it and used it to maximum effectiveness.

Bullets growl came through "You ever been shot by 4 bullets at once? Cause if you say yes you're a fucking shit liar. Now sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, or get the fuck out" He paused, Butch started to say something "you choose different you find out what 4 bullets really feels like" There was a scraping of a chair as he sat down. Bullet relaxed but Rachel's pistols remained trained even as she moved away.

She stood next to Bullet and whispered in his ear _"Isn't that the kid from the footage, the one you said you recognised?"_ Bullet raised his head long enough to look at him

In an instant he had the kid against the wall "RAIDER SCUM!" he was vaguely aware of a warning from Moriaty as he came in the back way but just pointed his pistol at him "HOW DID YOUR TYPE GET INTO MEGATON?!"

The youth struggled to speak, holding him up by the throat was a man twice his size and weight who nevertheless gave the impression he could squeeze a whole lot harder if he wanted to "Gave... Simms... some caps... please... I'll explain"

"Later, first, what were you doing in the Citadel?"

"Citadel?" He tried to look as confused as possible while struggling for breath

He was thrown to the floor and the aim of the pistol moved from the landlord to the newcomer "You play dumb I repaint the walls" The kid stammered again "Hey Gob red's really in this season what do you think?"

"Okay! Okay! I was there, it was this slaver, calls himself Midas. He said he'd give us 1000 caps a head for everyone we pulled out of the brotherhood base, said it wasn't crazy, he could get us in!" he tried to slither away "That's it I swear"

"And the mutants? The damn mutants? The fucking _Behemoth?_"

_"_I swear we didn't know til we got there, we were told to wait for walls to drop, that we'd be able to just rush in and take everyone hostage, no deaths, he didn't want deaths, loads of slaves he said he wanted."

"Okay, say I buy that, where did you take em?"

"The canyon-"

"I'm hearing a lot about this canyon, what and where the fuck is it?"

"It's like a Raider City", he was starting to get his voice back, his smile returning as he sat up again. His arrogant nature starting to reappear. "I can take you there, for a price" The barrel of Bullets pistol pushed him back to the floor and his smile faded.

"How's this, I don't kill you on 3 conditions. 1, you don't kill me or Rachel. 2, you apologise to Gob and buy him a beer. 3, you take me to this canyon."


End file.
